And No Birds Sing
by brookmeade
Summary: Just because she was deaf in the "hearing world" didn't mean she couldn't live life like a "normal" person; it just changed things a bit. And changed things it did, when a certain boy from the La Push Reservation starts taking interest in her. Embry/OC
1. Marie

**Disclamier:Sadly, I do not own anything. All this belongs to Stephenie Meyer[ha. we share the same name] The only thing I own is "Marie" and this particular story plot.**

Chapter 1

No one wanted to be friends with _"the deaf girl."_ That much Marie was sure. Being new to the school in the deep middle of October posed its own problems but adding a disability which obviously no one in this almost non-existent Indian Reservation was almost too much to handle. And on top of that she wasn't even full-blooded Quileute, darn those Spanish genes. So sitting in a room full of hormone raging, self- confident, dramatic students is like watching your favorite television show in another language. It was useless. At least to Marie it was, she felt like a ghost spinning around in her seat, straining to understand her peers. She simply couldn't understand them because of her deafness, but she couldn't say she didn't try. After awhile, she just gave up, focusing her intention on trying to decipher what the teachers were saying, since only half of them took the time to slow down and try to accommodate her and her "special needs." Sitting in the front seat felt like sitting with her back facing the world, messing the jokes, the students' replies to: questions, commentary; discussions; and even naughty whispers and the notes passed around. Giving oral reports is also a drag, and sometimes Marie wonders if her teachers hate it too, considering her speech isn't always so easily understood.

Watching the little hand strike 2:03, made her slightly depressing world fill up with joy, signaling the end of a long and increasing confusing school day. Standing up and grabbing her black bag, she darted out of the classroom, narrowly missing smashing into a two russet-skin giants, one with black cropped hair and the other with black hair slightly past his chin. It was amazing how their white shirts clung to every intimate craves of their bulging muscles, although the one with hair barely touching his broad shoulders was a tad bit slender. Marie took a little extra notice as she hadn't seen them before in class since she came here. They excreted an dangerous, mysterious aurora about them. At that moment, the buffer one with the cropped hair turned to the side and caught Marie's eye, he stopped talking to the skinner one and let an arrogant smug grin light his face revealing gleaming white teeth, winking at her. Oh yeah, he was handsome, almost too handsome for his own good. Blushing a bright pink, Marie pushed her way though the rest of the students and dashed into the increasing crowding hallway. However, she hadn't realize she dropped her English book, trying to make her quick getaway.

Back in the classroom,"Hey Quil, you going to Sam's after..," Embry tailed off noticing Quil currently had his eyes set somewhere else or actually someone else.

"Yeah, Yeah, you see that chick that was just standing here..I think she was checking me out,"Quil immediately added turning his attention back to Embry.

With a quick flick of his eyes now catching a curly black haired girl making a quick dash through the wooden doorway until the hallway. "Ha, yeah man she's so into you, she's running away," Embry rolled his eyes waiting for everyone trying to fit through the cramp door space.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Quil guffawed ," I have that kind of affect on women."

"Whatever dude," Embry snickered. Quil could be so full of himself sometimes..snatch that all the time. Embry's large converse struck a solid green English III book with a forest imagery on the front. Sighing he bent down to retrieve it,"looks like your new friend dropped this," he opened the cover to peak in the inside _Marie Santos_ shown the new name in purple ink across the 5th line. "Hmm, Santos, maybe she's new."

"Santos, sounds Spanish, I'll take the liberty of giving this back to her," Quil suggested sliding his meaty arm across Embry's face to take the book.

"Not so fast," Embry quickly reacted by shielding his body away from Quil hot hand," maybe I'll give it back to her, since you obviously just scared her off."

"You?? Please," Quil laughed dropping his hand,"if I couldn't get her to even talk to me, then why the hell do you think she'll even _look_ at you."

"Shut up Quil, we'll just see about that, " Embry jogged down the hallway to catch up to the mysterious girl walking briskly down the hall. "Hey!"

"Hey, you in the red hoodie!" "You dropped your book!" Embry's guff shouts caused others in the hall by their lockers to turn and stare. Usually Embry wasn't the type to yell at least not in public but something about this girl he felt drawn to. By the time he maneuvered his towering shape through the crowding hallway, the girl had already made her way outside jogging down the steps and into a red Sedan and was off. "Damn, how could she not _hear_ me, is she deaf or something?" Embry quickly shook off the thought and turned back to get his stuff. Maybe Quil was right?


	2. Bathroom Encounters

**Disclamier:Sadly, I do not own anything. All this belongs to Stephenie Meyer[ha. we share the same name] The only thing I own is "Marie" and this particular story plot. That's it folks.**

Chapter 2

"How was your day sweetheart?" Marie's mother, Katherine had signed through the rearview mirror when they had reached a stop light.

"Good." Marie signed back.

"You sure?" Katherine had signed back.

"Yes, Mother."Marie signed and then turned her attention out the window. Just like that she was cut off.

Katherine thought that maybe this was what it was like when other mothers talked about when they said their daughters ignore them, and they feel like they are losing them. Katherine, however, had the feeling that since her daughter was a teenager and deaf, she felt like she was losing her even more so. Raising a deaf child wasn't easy, especially raising one alone. Katherine sighed and passed forward on the gas pedal making a right turn as the light turned green.

6:45 a.m. 15 minutes before 1st period. Marie liked time. It was always consistent, it never changed, if it was 12:01 a.m. it would be 12:01 p.m. then back to 12:01 a.m. again. Now it was 6:46 a.m. thanks to her little 1 minute rant, she decided to go to the girls' restroom to past some time. Walking into the small restroom, obvious that it was a small locker room before, Marie almost envied the way several girls in front of the two mirror chatted away playing with eachother's hair and applying makeup. She wanted girlfriends to talk to, share her secrets, even makeup tips would be nice. As she approached, she started to see the girls slow down their conversation to a slow stop when they saw her approaching.

"_Typical, I'm always seen as a freak of nature here_," Marie thought crossly.

Awkward looks exchanged between the girls, as some quickly started putting their brushes back in their purses and picking their backpacks. One girl swung her bookbag and it accidently clipped Marie, instantly the girl turned around and started forming a dramatic "_I'm soo Sorryy_" except it was so drawn out and slow. Marie hated it when people talked to her like she was stupid, she was very smart, it she did think so herself. Finally couldn't stand and take this monstrosity of an apology going on, Marie walked around the girl, who by the way was still expressing her apologies, and walked up to the now vacant mirror. The girl finally took the hint and exited the restroom with the rest of the giggling girls.

"_Really it didn't even hurt_," Marie huffed, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Having looked at her watch, 7:01, Marie had enough time to swept some chapstick on, make sure her curly hair was all in a ponytail before exiting to make it to 1st period. English was actually her favorite subject of the day, considering her favorite teacher, Mrs. Chippewa, also knew ASL; helped out a lot. Also around Mrs. Chippewa, Marie wasn't afraid to use her voice around her either, actually Mrs. Chippewa insisted Marie talk when it was just them. Marie never felt comfortable with her voice, but she knew it could be worse, those years of speech therapy helped a lot. Seeing the heavyset, Indian woman writing on the front board the days assignments and objectives made Marie feel better, Mrs. Chippewa was like a motherly figure to her.

"Hello, Mrs. Chippewa," Marie spoke and signed at the same time. Turning and giving a pleasant smile, Mrs. Chippewa signed and greeted Marie, "Good Morning Marie, are you ready to learn today?"

Marie grimaced and Mrs. Chippewa chuckled, "I'll take that as a YES then." Marie smiled and made it to her usual seat in the front of the class. Looking around at the empty desks, Marie checked her watch a third time to see if she was early than she thought. Nope. 7:04, she guessed it wasn't a "cool" thing to be early to class. Personally, she could have cared less. Just then students started to file into the classroom by 7:05. School started at 7:06. When majority of the students had enter the room, and Mrs. Chippewa was just about to shut the door, Marie saw the same two guys from yesterday came striding through the door at exactly 7:06. "Cutting it close" Marie saw Mrs. Chippewa say to the boys..snatch that men. At least over 6 foot. The stocky, shorter one put on an mockingly, apologetic face while the taller, leaner seem genuinely sorry; exchanging an apologetic shrug to the teacher. Mrs. Chippewa shook her head and pointed to their seats in the back. One could tell they were popular, exchanging high fives with the guys and giving a quick hug some the girls who flipped their straight hair and batted their overly done eyelashes too much. Marie couldn't deny they were attractive. Very attractive. Especially the seemily quieter one. Shaking her head to clear the thought, Marie turned her head forward. The English lesson went by pretty good for Marie, Mrs. Chippewa faced the class the whole team so Marie could easily read her lips. Also to top it off, there was good 30 minutes left in class for free time. Marie thought it was the best time then ever to pull out her new Mystery novel to read it. At that moment, Mrs. Chippewa dropped a handful stack of papers on Marie's desk and signed to her to pass them out.

"I do not know their names," Marie signed back mentioning the students.

"Then this is a good time to learn," Mrs. Chippewa signed back and with that navigated back to her seat.

Grabbing the papers and standing up, Marie faced the class, becoming increasing embarrassed; she didn't know where to start or who to start with. Looking down, she saw the first name on the stack was _Gregory Spears_

"_Good at least I know it's a boy_," Marie thought while glancing to the left and seeing a boy with an oversized sports jacket on with his head down. She'll start there. Walking up to the boy, she tapped him on the shoulder, once then twice; before he roused to bring his head up. "Yeah," she read his groggily respond when he eyed her. She showed him the paper indicating to the name, wordlessly asking if it was him. At first he looked at her confused, then he focused his head to the paper. He shook his yes and Marie slid the paper on his desk. So far so good. If the rest could go like this she'll be happy. The next one, unfortunately, wasn't the correct person so Marie spent that one walking down the aisle showing the students the paper, until they started pointing out the correct student. Eventually it was down to two papers, _Embry Call_ and _Quil Ateara. _Marie knew these two papers had to belong to the two guys in the back. Having gained a little more confidence, she proceeded to walk up to their desks. She almost laughed as she saw their cramp bodies stuck in between, to her, the average-sized desks. To them it appeared as if they were cramped in a kindergartners' chair. She approached the stockier one first, he censed talking to his friend next to him and turned to her. Marie shoved one of the papers under his nose, pulling back a little he looked at the name and cracked a grin but shook his head. He turned his head but Marie couldn't tell if he was saying anything or not, since his back was to her. However, Quil was saying, "I'm not Embry, he is," indicating Embry next to him. Since he didn't know that Marie could not read his lips with his back turned, he was kind of surprised when he continued his conversation with Embry and she was still standing there. However, Quil being Quil assumed it was because of him and was about to make a "mack daddy" move when Sonya, the girl across from him stated,"She can't hear you, she's deaf, you have to face her when your talking." Having heard this, Embry perked up his ear. So that's why she hadn't responded to him when he was shouting after her. Maybe he could communicate with her a little to tell her he found her English book, although he really could not communicate much since his mom had made him take sign language lessons when he was 10. Jacob and Quil didn't see what it was needed for and Embry agreed, begging his mom to let him drop the class after only 1 month. That was 8 years ago, sure his sign language was gonna be a tad bit rusty, but hey it was something.

Quil turned back around to the confused girl and shook his head and slowly, a little too slowly, unbeknownst to him, and pointed to Embry; mouthing again what he said slowly this time. Marie quickly caught on, placing the other paper marked _Quil Ateara,_ and stirred over to the Embry. When she reached Embry, he lifted his head and they locked eyes. Embry felt the room start to change and swift, he was feeling all those "cliched" emotions Sam and Jared described when they shared about how he knew Emily and Kim were their imprints one night on patrol. Never the less, Embry thought it was bullshit. All that seemed irrevlovent right now, the only thing that mattered to him was the delicate beauty in front of him. Her eyes were the exact color of dusty chestnuts. He would know since that was his favorite candy. And her hair, pulled back to show her exquisite face, what beautiful full almond eyes she had, her tiny button nose, that cute beauty mole on her left cheek. Embry noticed Marie grimaced a bit, revealing two large dimples, sending his heart on another emotional rollercoaster.

Damn. Maybe he should have stayed in that sign language class after all.

**A/N: I added this chapter because I realized the first chapter was terribly short :/ I hope this is better. I'm kind of nervous over here. hehe**

**Leave me some reviews pretty please. Tell me what you think :]]**


	3. To be gawked at

Chapter 3

Marie hated being gawked at. **Period.** And this guy was really starting to piss her off. She gotten enough of that when people found out about her hearing impairment. Who in the world did this dude, man, whatever, think he was? Gawking at her like this The nerve It was starting to make her feel more and more uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze. In a flash, the burly one, Quil grabbed Embrys' arm and yanked him out of the desk and they went flying out of the classroom. Slamming the door, Marie assumed, because she could feel the vibrations from the door slam course through her body. The other students and raised their heads and eyebrows, sending confused looks toward the door and around at eachother. Mrs. Chippewa was sending disapproving looks toward the door as well. Marie glanced at her watch once more. _7:51._ 1st period would be over in two minutes, Marie hoped she wouldn't have to see those two again in 6th period especially the one with the staring problem. Although, she still could not help the way her mind kept flashing back to his black flecked eyes. She shook her head, she didn't care what his eyes looked like, or about him for that matter. He must be trouble with a capital T. She was sure of it. Even through he did seem more tranquil. Embry.

"_Hmm, what a strange name," _she thought as she wandered back to her seat to gather her things. Very strange indeed.

* * *

"She's _what??_"

"So she like, can't _hear _you?"

"How would you communicate with her?"

"What if she says,'Speakup' and then when you do, she says, 'No need to shout'?"

"Oh hehe, Colin you are so wron-"

"Shut the fuck up before I flip you over that-- "

"Woah man we were just kidding around..honest."

"Yeah chill no need for the violence."

Embry could not take another minute of being around these insensitive, bulk-headed, pieces' of shits, any longer.

"Guys, calm down, we'll make Embry's new imprint a welcomed part of our family..regards of her special needs," Sam intervened with his authoritative, deep voice.

"Ha. Not after she hears how Embry likes to sleep with. What's his name, "Mr. Cuddles. Gucci gucci goo," Quil butted in, clearly laughing at his own joke without processes what he just said,"Oops, sorry I-I didn't mean, uh, you know, sorry."

"Quil, shut up," Jacob elbowed Quil in the ribs.

Embry silently thanked his friend, he already was having a difficult time trying to digest what had happened today. Wh y couldn't he have just had a "normal" imprint like Sam or Jared. The constant questions flying out of everybody's mouth was driving him crazy. How could he answer someone elses' questions when he had a few of his own.

"One of my neighbors' was deaf back at the Makah rez," Emily claimed while she placed the copious amounts of hamburgers on the table,"it'll be nice to have another girl around here..regardless."

Hands were reaching and grabbing the hot dogs, some making it to their plates, others were consumed on sight. He needed to eat was what Embry decided. Could he handle a deaf girlfriend? How could he talk to her? He didn't talk much but still some communication would be nice. He decided he was getting way ahead of himself here. He hadn't even "talked" to her yet instead just staring at her like a gaping fish. How stupid could he have been, he chastised himself. She clearly didn't like being stared at, he remembered by her facial expressions, no one liked be stared at like they were from a third-world country or something. That was something they shared in common. Embry sighed but then snapped himself out of it, if the guys knew he was going soft like Jared and Sam. He would never live it down. No sir-ri Bob, he had an image to uphold. At least to the pack.

* * *

Two women or more like a mother and her daughter collapsed in a fit of giggles as they both surveyed the damaged they had caused in their kitchen, flour, rainbow cake mix everywhere, egg shells thrown on top of the kitchen counters, with a burned cake smoking on the stove. Baking was not an exact forte they processed. Smudges of cake mix was still caked on their faces, hair, and in the crevices of the kitchen corners.

"We made a big mess," Marie signed, wiping cake mix off her forehead and nose. She was going to have to take a long shower tonight.

Katherine chuckled, standing up and grabbing the cake pan and dropping the whole thing in the sink. Turning around suddenly, Katherine signed to her daughter,"Marie, have we every talked about where babies come from?"

With her cheeks blazing red, Marie signed an abrupt and quick, "I already know that mother "

Katherine was unrelenting,"Now that you are getting older, you are going to want to _try_ new things with boys.."

Marie, not believing what she was seeing, her mom had no clue, she didn't have a _boyfriend_ nor did she want one.

"And so I want you to be safe, if you have any quest-"

Marie cut her mother off signing,"ok, I am going to my room now."

Katherine signed "goodnight" and sent one last concerned look as her daughter literally flew out the kitchen.

**A/N: Thank you to all of you who read,favorited,and/or REVIEWED: _jalapeno1011, skittlesandmax, Embrylover4ever, and PieAnnamay07_. It's a start and I really appreciated it all :]] and I will try to upload every 2 maybe 3 days. **


	4. The power of yelling

**Disclamier: I do not own or claim anything from the Twilight Saga, however I do own Marie ;] **

**A/N: Phew.. I went though h.e.l.l. and high water to get this thing uploaded.. I'm gonna post another chapter up;] because I'm feeling especially nice and I have loads of work to do and this my be the only time I can upload for maybe the rest of the week but I'll try.**

**Leave me reviews sugars:]] and thank you bunches to all of you who are reading and reviewing or favoriting(sp?) this story. **

**Also I'm still waiting for a beta reader so if any are interested please help a girl out and send me a message or review please!**

Chapter 4

Marie hopped out her mom's car, starting to head to front office since she was late from coming from a consultation with a cochlear implant specialist. Marie had been thinking about cochlear implants since she saw a documentary on tv about a deaf man getting the surgery, but she was deathly afraid of surgery. It just wasn't something she could do. However, the consultation did cause her to miss half her class for the day, excellently avoiding that Chemistry and that creepy boy in English. Embry.

"_Stop it!_" she mentally scolded herself, she didn't need the added distractions.

Walking into the front office, she handed the elderly secretary, Ms. Wolf, her doctors' excuse. Ms. Wolf glanced up, offering a remnant of a smile before writing an excuse to class. Marie bowed her head, taking the excuse and walking to her 4th period class, Independent Studies. Approaching the door, she remembered she had 3rd lunch right now and backtracked to the cafeteria. She realized she had two options; eat outside or inside, considering it was raining outside only left Marie with one choice, inside. She detested eating inside because it was always so apparent that she eat alone. This time she found a table with a girl with purple highlights and at least five different facial piercings. Marie did not have a problem with that, she liked having someone to seat with that was just as or just about as strange as her. The girl didn't seem to mind when Marie seat down, she just kept staring at the imaginary movie going on in her mashed potatoes. Marie didn't feel like eating so she pulled out her latest book craze, "_Ashes of Roses."_

_She was about finished with the 5th chapter when she felt a looming presence sit down across from her. Simply ignoring whoever was sitting there she continued reading pushing up the book even farther. A large, reddish brown hand with bulging veins, reached out and held her book, preventing her from turning the page. She snatched the book down and peered angrily over the top. She should have known. The boy with the staring problem, Embry, was shyly smirking back at her. As she struggled unsuccessfully to not get lost in those chestnut, smoky hair had grown since she'd seen him a couple of days ago. He had his hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, strands of crow black straight hair escaping being tried back. Man, he looked heavenly even exotic, like one of those men from her mom's collection of books she kept hidden in the back of her closet. _

Dazzled and confused, Marie snapped out of her reverie only to notice he was trying to communicate with her. His attempts were almost hilarious, if she even liked him, she kept telling herself. Studying his attempts as he was pointing almost desperately to a green English book on the table and slowing down his speech, Marie instantly caught on. Suspiciously, narrowing her eyes she grabbed the book and peered inside, sure enough it was her name scribbled across the inside cover. She wanted to know how his hands got a hold of her book, but settled with staring blankly back. He stared back.

If he expected something back in return, he wasn't getting it, Marie thought, returning her gaze back to her book. Soon after, there was a tap on the back of her book.

"_This has got to stop_," Marie stopped reading again and started gathering her books, if she couldn't read in peace here, then she might as well go to the library. Standing up from her seat, Marie marched toward the exit not peering back to see the stunned look on Embry's face. Hey, she liked to cause a bit of scene every now and again; shake things up. She expected to make a clean getaway leaving him in the dust, hoping finally he would catch the hint. She was twice surprised to feel a hand on her shoulder, she knew that hand. She whirled around and what she hoped to be the loud command her mother taught her in case of emergencies, "Leave me alone Embry!"

Embry stopped, he hadn't meant to frighten her, he just wanted to get to know her better, at least a little bit. All he knew was that her name was Marie and she was deaf. He wanted to know her favorite color, food, what she liked to do in her free time, if she had any allergies. He felt horrible, she hated his guts. Couldn't he do anything right? Mr. Devault, the 10th grade Algebra II teacher, opened his door.

"Is there some kind of problem out here, Mr. Call?"

Mr. Devault thought he was going to do something to Marie, of course not, Embry thought hastily. He wouldn't harm a curly strand on her pretty little head. He just hated that she was scared of him. The way she had shouted his name broke his heart. He had not even known she knew his name. He definitely didn't want her to be screaming his name in fear.

"No sir."

Marie exhaled a sign of relief when she saw Mr. Devault out of the corner of her eye, "Thank God," she thought. She was already kind of ashamed she had spoken like that, she was sure he was going to laugh at her right then and there. She read his lips as Embry shook his head no, sending her a final crestfallen look before turning around and slumping back to the cafeteria. She watched him all the way back to the café. It was for the best, they could never work out. She was deaf and he was a hearie. There worlds were just to polar opposite. She sent Mr. Devault a small smile and signed a "thank you" although she knew he didn't have a clue what she signed, and walked down the hall to the cubby-hole library for the rest of lunch. _They could never work out_, she kept repeating to herself over and over. _Or could they? _

She couldn't get past chapter 5 all day.


	5. Letter of apology

**Disclamier: I do not own or claim anything from the Twilight Saga, however I do own Marie ;] **

Chapter 5

Two weeks and approximately 4 hours, 37 minutes, and 56 seconds later; Embry hadn't even looked at her. Instead, he just looked miserable. Circles under his eyes, barely smiling for more than what seemed like a micro second. Marie was beginning to feel bad, she just wanted to be left alone, she didn't think he would take it so personally. At least she hoped she had not been the reason for his gloomy state, but for some reason she felt she was. She thought maybe she should write him a letter. Maybe he would toss it as soon as she gave it to him or maybe he had enough courtesy to keep it but when she walked away he'd trash it.

"_Well, it is the thought that counts_," she thought as she snatched out her beginning sentence for the 8th time.

After endless snatch outs, and crumpled up pieces of paper, her room was covered with paper aimlessly thrown toward her silver trash bin. She finally settled on this

"_Dear Embry,_"

First off, I wanted to apologize for my actions(and words), I was just frustrated, you know, homework and stuff. However, I should not have acted so coldly and yelled at you. I hope we could put this incident behind us and be friends, or at least acquaintances.

Marie.

She read the letter over, checking for any grammar mistakes, or if it sounded too formal. She did want to sound like a teenager not a government official. She made up her mind as she was climbing into bed, she was just going to slip into his locker after 1st period and be on her way. Quick and simple. She had already figured out his locker was next to the gym, on her way to Chemistry yesterday. He was standing there with some other boys, or men it appeared, all muscular and tall. Boy, were they tall. What was being fed to the guys around here..growth hormones. Back before her and her mom moved here, back in Oklahoma, boys,in the 11th grade did not look like them. She hadn't meant to ogle them, but it was only one in particular that she couldn't help but peep at. Considering the way he looked as if he'd lost his best friend, even though he had plenty around him, something looked a bit off. That's when she decided she was going to write him a letter, at least to make herself feel better. Her conscience couldn't take it. Beginning to drift, letting the darkness consume all her worries, it was like she could still see the crushed look on Embry's face when she had yelled at him. She had to make this right. Tomorrow.

* * *

He was talking with the same group of tall guys, standing by the side the lunch line, with his hands in his pockets. He was laughing at one of their jokes, saying something in response, causing more laughter. She couldn't read their lips because they moved them well too fast. Whatever the joke, it must of been funny.

"_Maybe he wasn't upset about my way of treating him_," Marie thought peering at them from her usual table across the cafeteria.

Starting to chicken out, she fingered the letter tucked away in her jeans' pocket. Embry and his group moved toward the exit of the cafeteria, going outside. Taking a look-see at her watch, confirming lunch would be coming to an end in a minute. All she had to do was slip the note into his locker and hope him or his friends weren't there to intercept it. Even through, it wasn't the romantic kind, she had never given a note to a boy before, she hoped it didn't seem too juvenile. Everyone started getting up from their tables and throwing away their trash, some not even bothering to pick up their trash.

Exiting among the clatter of students, Marie squeezed her way through the crowd and took a detour to the gym. Locker 540. Or maybe it was Locker 541. Or was it 542? Marie racked her brain, "_which one was it, which one_." She didn't have much time before next class. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder, she let out a squeak or whatever noise came out of her mouth. Embry threw up his hands in a "I surrender" mode, watching her cautiously.

"_He probably thinks I'm crazy, who can blame him_, _I do have quick silver moods. Poor guy._" she nervously worried her lip under her black curls. Deciding no time like the present, she gingerly handed him the note. Almost holding her breath as he took it, giving it quick once over as he held it.

"Sorry," Marie moved her lips and signed. Usually, she never spoke around anyone, especially someone she just meet, but she realized she needed to work on that. If she was starting to make a change, might as well change all over. She turned and hoofed it down the hall.

* * *

Standing outside on the stone steeps, Marie's mom was late.

"_Usually Mom's never late_," Marie thought tucking her hair behind her ear, dancing from one foot to the next. She paced over to the stone wall and took a seat, not long after seating down, she felt a warm presence seat down next to her. There he was again. Embry. He apprehensively held up a hand, signaling a wave.

"Hello," he moved his mouth and signed in ASL.

Marie felt the air rush out of her, "_He knows sign!_" Maybe she was too hard on him.

"Hello," she signed back,"you know sign?"

"Only a little," Embry signed back, looking somewhat dejected.

"Oh," Marie signed. This was awkward, as they scrambled for something to "say" in which they both understood.

"I'm sorry!" "I am sorry!" They both said in unison.

"No, I am sorry, I was being really mean to you," Marie explained.

"I should not have stared at you."

Marie did like that when he was talking to her, his attention was all on her, and she could read his lips so well. Those full, pink lips. Marie shook her head, she had to focus.

"Agree to disagree," Embry nudged her shoulder softly.

"Okay," Marie agreed shaking her head.

"Okay well, let's start over, I'm Embry Call," Embry introduced himself and reached out his hand.

"Marie Santos," Marie took his hand giving a small shake, only pulling back when she felt how burning hot his hand felt,"your hand is very hot."

Embry took his hand back turning his head mumbling something. Marie angled her body more to get to a better look at his face. Why was he so ashamed? He turned back around, and fanned himself saying "hot."

Marie eyed him more before shaking it off, even through who could get hot in the beginning of November, in the middle of Washington for goodness sakes. Marie did not have time to contemplate it more when she spotted her mom's car curving into the school's parking lot.

"I have to go, goodbye Embry. Wish me could have talked more." Marie signed, walking to her mom's car.

"_Me too." _Embry waved after her but he was sure she didn't know. Marie. "_What a beautiful name_," he thought, "_for a beautiful girl_." How could he not forgive her when she wrote that letter for him. He was never angry at her in the first place, more devastated that she hated his guts. But now as he beamed slightly to himself, he might actually have a chance. _This could work_. He was sure it.

As Marie got into the car, her mother regarded her carefully though the rearview mirror, noticing the grin on her daughters' face as she glided into the car. Katherine knew something was up, and she didn't necessarily like it. She saw the boy Marie was with, this was the first time she had even seen Marie with a young man before. He looked older, maybe around 20 but the body of a 25 year old. She was going to keep her reservations all right. Someone taking advantage of her daughter was her biggest fear, and if anyone wanted to get through to her daughter, they were going to have to get her stamp of approval first. Or her name wasn't Katherine Gale Harpoon-Santos.

"How was your day sweetheart?"

"Very good," Marie signed to her mother, her lips pulling up in a grace of a smile as she leaned back toward the window when the car began moving.

Oh yeah, if he could get Marie to talk, there was definately something there.

**A/N: Leave me some reviews sugars! I mean I did do a double post just for you guys..**

**My Birthday is coming up soon:]] well in like 2 weeks ;] and I'm currently looking for a beta reader so if _interested _send me a review or message.**


	6. Loony Lunch

**Disclamier: I do not own or claim anything from the Twilight Saga, however I do own Marie ;]**

Chapter 6

Slowly as the days soon became weeks, Marie and Embry began to become closer. If she needed help with what the teacher instructed, Embry was there. He was her first friend; her best friend. She didn't have to cover up her deafness to him, even started teaching him some more sign language on the side. Even though, he was a little bit slow in remebering the gestures, sometimes confusing them, making "interesting" meanings. Always causing her to laugh and then correct them. He invited her to sit at lunch with him and his friends. She wasn't going to lie, she was nervous.

"_What if they don't like me?_" She was constantly thinking of those crazy "what ifs". She wore a pink hoodie and light skinny jeans, ripped at the knee caps with black flip flops. She was also too tired to feel like wrestling with her hair today and just left it down. As she stumbled across the cafeteria, she saw them all at the table, eating about a weeks' worth of food. Feeling a bit awkward with her lunch bag filled with a turkey-and-cheese sandwich, grapes, water, and sundried chips.

Approaching the table, Marie was more relaxed to see another girl with a slightly wide face, thin hair, and pretty long eyelashes.

"_What I wouldn't do for those_,"Marie thought getting closer.

She saw Embry inhaling a ham sandwich, when she reached the table, there was one seat left next to him.

"Can I seat here," she asked, signing to the table.

Embry shook his head gleefully and tried not to talk with his mouth fill and his pulled out her chair. He knew how she hated that.

The others stopped eating long enough to say hi to Marie before returning to their food. Marie breathed a sigh of relief and she sat down taking out her grapes to eat. The girl next to her, tapped her arm to get her attention and offered a slight wave with a minut "Hi." Marie smiled and waved back. Embry took the time to introduce her to everyone, pointing them out: Kim, her boyfriend Jared (he demonstrated by making kissing faces when he mentioned them, causing Marie to giggle, and Jared to fling a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Embry), Jacob, Paul, Seth, and of course Quil. After everyone got acquainted, Paul was still staring at Marie, almost like he was trying to figure out if she was real or something. This was what she didn't want to happen, being treated or looked at differently. Embry noticed and throw a carrot at him, muttering angrily catching Paul's attention. Paul snapped back and before she knew it, things were getting dangerously heated. Suddenly, Jacob stood up between the two of them and ordered Paul to go outside. When Paul left, everyone was a flutter of conversation all moving a dozen miles per hour. Times, like these she hated being deaf, she wanted to know what was being said and it was pissing her off to no end. She was starting to feel left out and even though she knew Embry didn't mean to, it still happened.

Embry noticed Marie had grown still beside him, and her cheeks were beginning to a sharp crimson. This couldn't be good, he deduced. So, he nudged her slightly to see what was the matter. She just shook it off and continued eating. Was she mad at him? Had he been wrong for defending her against Paul like that? How could he, he thought, he hadn't liked the way Paul was staring at her like that, like she was an alien, all outlandish. It had pissed him off, and he let Paul know that, even through Paul had denied the whole thing, but Embry knew better. The bell sounded and everyone started packing up and throwing away their trays. Embry nudged Marie and jutted out his bottom lip, making an adorable puppy face. It was the only thing he could possibly think of to cheer her up. He didn't want Paul being a dick, ruining her day. Paul would answer to him later. Marie smirked a half smile and nudged him, but it wasn't the same. Embry sighed and threw his enormous arm around her neck, causing Marie to shake her head and beam even more. He was always so affectionate, even if it was just a "friends affection". Although, she was beginning to wish for more, she kind of thought he felt the same way, whenever he was staring at her a few seconds to long. It was almost like she was his personal antique china doll, not that she could ever see Embry playing with dolls in his spare time. He was a more G.I. Joe sort of man. Marie thought with amusement walking with him out the cafeteria, however not missing some of the confused and curious glances. They could kiss her ass for all she cared; nothing could get her down when Embry was being so adorable like this. He was walking her to class, which he did like everyday now. He hardly ever missed school now, if he did he would write her a note, since he couldn't sign it yet to her. It was an action that reminded her of what the boys did in the movies or the books for the girl they fancied. Embry couldn't fancy her, she thought. Why would he? He was probably just being nice. He was a nice guy, very nice, and loving, an- she broke that thought as they stopped by her chemistry class. Except this time, something was up, she could feel it.

Embry bowed his head a little, tucking his hands in his pocket, steadily rocking back and forth. He was nervous. She realized, but for what? Maybe he was going to tell her he couldn't be friends with her anymore. She wouldn't blame him, no telling what kind of flack he was getting from his friends, hanging out with a deaf girl. Whatever he was going to tell her he had to make it quick or he was going to be late for his class, across the campus.

"Will you go out with me, Friday?" Embry signed to Marie, his russet cheeks heating, flashing an even more ruddy red. Marie froze, she hadn't taught him that. Where did he learn that from? Just last week, he could barely from complete sentences. She also was stunned with the question, was he asking her out on a date? She'd never been on one of those before. Hell, what was she thinking; she was smitten.

"Okay," Marie flashed him a tender smile. She grinned more when Embry lit up like a Christmas tree as she would describe it. His smile could light up this whole population 3,509 town.

Bobbing his head up and down, he signed, "Pick you up at 7."

He was really getting good at this sign language or he'd been practicing those two phrases for weeks, either way it was still cute. He backed up slowly, still grinning from ear-to-ear, tuning out his surroundings, until he backed up against the gym teacher, Coach Arnold. Coach Arnold was a short, piggy looking man, with a receding gray hairline out of this world. Before Embry could get hold on himself, he had backed up and caused Coach Arnold to drop the sports jerseys' he had in his arms and sent him sprawling to the floor. Marie could feel the vibrations from his fall. She barely could control her laughter, just the look of Coach Arnold's reddening face, covering his entire face and reaching to his ever receding hairline. Gosh that man had the biggest, shiniest forehead, anyone had ever seen. Then Embry's face once he realized his clumsy blunder, was completely priceless, as he scrambled to pick up the jerseys' and Coach Arnold at the same time. All the while, Coach Arnold was grumbling something, pushing at Embrys' massive arm from picking him up. He had to save some dignity somewhere, after a high schooler just planted him on his ass in front of a hall of giggling teens. Losing her battle with controlling her laughter, she decided to make her exit while Embry was obviously still..busy. He was so cute flustered, she paraded in her mind, and he was hers.

_______________________________________________________

"_How in the hell is thing supposed to go_," Marie thought fighting with her hair straightener. She was starting to become frustrated. She had seen her cousins' do such amazing stuff to their hair with these blasted things. Wincing as she burned her ear for what seem like the 14th time. She was, however, almost finished, and she would have to say the finishing product was coming out nicely. It just took her a longer, a lot longer and 1 tube of burn ointment later.

Her mom peeked her head through the bathroom door, catching her daughter attempting to straighten a stubborn curl in the back of her head. Grabbing the straightener from Marie's hand, Katherine smear use some straightening balm on the sectioned piece, and proceeded to straighten her hair. When Marie had told her she was going out with a boy from school tonight, she was a bit skeptical, like who was this boy wanting to take out her daughter, was this some way of taking advantage of her, but after asking Marie one hundred and one questions on who he was and about him. Katherine was feeling slightly better, but she still had her reserves. She had a couple of questions for this young man. Although she had a feeling who he was. The boy sitting with Marie the day she had picked her up from school late. Marie seemed to like him, if she was attempting to straightening her hair. This was her daughters' first date. She as mom had a right to feel all the emotions her daughter was feeling; nervous and excited, slightly anxious. Sliding the straightener over the last curly section, Katherine stared at her daughter in the mirror, her little girl was growing up, soon she would be going off to college, having her own career, getting married, and then she wouldn't need her anymore. It was a hard pill to shallow, a very hard pill. Katherine sniffed her nose trying to sniff up her emotions with it.

Oh no. Marie knew where this was going, she didn't want her mom to start crying. It wasn't a big deal really. It wasn't. She was just going out with a boy that was a friend. A boyfriend. Well, put more space between the boy plus the friend part.

"Don't cry," Marie signed, " I'm a big girl now, remember." She hated it when her mom got all "emotional" on her.

"Oh, I know honey, it just seemed like yesterday I was wiping your little red botto-"

There was a knock on the door, it must of been 7 o'clock already. Katherine jogged out the room, that must be him. Jogging down the stairs gave Katherine time to fix her face before she opened the door. Behind the door realized a tall, almost as tall as the doorframe, black silk hair held from his face with some kind of band, with a black shirt snug on his body with dark jeans. Well, her daughter knew how to pick 'em. He was a looker alright.

**A/N: Thank you to all my readers who have favorited my story or added 'ANBS' to their story alerts! BUT I only have 9 reviews..:[[ so I've decided not to post another chapter until I have atleast 6 or 7 reviews. Why 6 or 7? I just like the numbers. So PLEASE REVIEW, this is going to hurt me a lot more if I can't post soon.**

**Next chapter: The date (although not named that)**


	7. What are your intentions?

**Disclaimer: I do not own or claim anything from the Twilight Saga, however I do own Marie ;]**

Chapter 7

"Embry...Call?" Katherine questioned, sizing up her daughters' date.

"Yes, mam, uh –, " Embry stuttered.

"Oh, mam makes me feel old, call me Katherine and come in, Marie will be down in a few."

Katherine closed the door behind Embry as he stepped over the threshold. "So, Embry, tell me about yourself? Do you attend Quileute Tribal School?"

"Yes, ma – uh – Katherine, I'm a senior at the tribal school."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen, I turn nineteen in June."

"Hmm, what are your intentions with my daughter?"

Well, she didn't take long to get down to business.

"Good – uh – I only have the upmost respect for Marie. I wouldn't hurt her."

"And I'm trusting that better be true, and you know she has a hearing impairment, right?"

"I know, Mrs. Santos, I treat her like anyone else. Um – I mean better than anyone, um – I care for her a lot," Embry finished lamely, now he could tell where Marie got her no bullshit attitude. Prime example number one: her mother.

"It's Ms. Santos, and I'm trusting you will hold true to your word, because if not, I don't care how big you are, I will hunt you down, you understand me?"

Embry swallowed, even though he could easily overpower her, looking at this small figured woman talking about hunting him down, made her threat hold strong.

"I understand."

As if saved by the bell, or in this case, date; Marie came bounding down the stairs. Embry sucked in a breath as he caught sight of Marie. She looked stunning. He had never seen her with her hair straight, reaching almost down to her waist, under her bosom, and she was wearing light eyeliner on her bottom eyelid with a soft sheen of clear gloss on her lips. She looked beautiful without makeup, but she looked incredible with it on. To Embry, he loved her without the makeup, but with the makeup wasn't bad either. He couldn't make up his mind, she consumed it. Entirely. She wore jeans with a white t-shirt and a black collar zip-up jacket with black flip-flops to match. He'd told her they were going to the beach for an annual Quileute bonfire. He was a little surprised when she said she had never been to one, but remembered she wasn't from the Quileute rez, only her mother. It made it all the more special that she was going with him, though. She grinned at him when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You kids have fun tonight, have her home by eleven, Embry," Katherine signed the last part so Marie could see her curfew as well.

Once they reached his car, Marie spoke as she signed to Embry, "I hope she didn't scare you too much," Marie spoke and signed to Embry.

"Heh, maybe a little," Embry shook his head up and down holding his head to the side as he opened the car for her. Trying to ignore Marie's giggles as she climbed in the car. When he sat in the car, turning the key in the ignition and backing out the driveway. He switched the station to his favorite rock station, half into "_Use Somebody_" by Kings of Leon, Embry peered out the corner of his eye watching Marie staring out the window at the passing houses. Figuring peace and quiet was best, Embry turned off the radio, taking one hand off the steering wheel and sliding into Marie's hand. Startled, Marie turned her head toward Embry smiling and relaxed, giving his oven mitt, oversized hand a tiny squeeze. Equivalent to the size of a child's and adult hands. Turning into the La Push beach parking lot, Embry turned off the car, while Marie took note of the other cars. Almost everyone from school was there and the elders as well as the adults around town. Marie could see Kim and Jared, but also Jacob, and he was talking to a pale skinned girl with brown hair. The strange thing was, the girl was holding her arms around her waist as if holding herself together, but she seemed to be having a good enough time, Jake was a great guy. Marie stepped out of the car as Embry grasped her hand into his. This was something she could get used to, she thought.

Quil jogged up to them with two hot dogs in his hands. How they continued to eat so much and still look the way they did. It was a miracle. Quil looked down and noticed their intertwined hands, grinning back at Embry, bumping his shoulder into Embry's, who shook him off just as quickly. Embry brought Marie over to the two tables with masses upon masses of food. Hot dogs, hamburgers, cole slaw, fries, and even some desserts like individual cupcakes and also pies. Letting go of her hand, Embry started stocking up his paper plate high with food. Marie grinned and shook her head, she should've known. Food was like his own personal brand of heroine. Marie settled for smaller portions, filling her plate with only what she knew she would like a hamburger with a cupcake, she couldn't deny her insane sweet tooth. She raised her head but noticed the girl at the grill, grinning and laughing at something a man whispered in her ear. She was beautiful but what caught Marie off guard were the horrendous thick red scars, pulling down the left side of her eye, all the way down to her mouth.

"_DearLord, what happened to her?_" Marie thought in horror and shock," _could it have been a car crash, no it looks like an animal attack, maybe a bear, or wolf_?"

Embry followed her gaze and noticed who she was staring at. He nudged her shoulder and signed only to her, "Don't stare."

"What happened to her? Why is her face like that?" Marie controlled her mouth but signed frantically with her hands.

Embry couldn't keep up with what she was signing but he got a gist of what she was probably asking, so he signed with what remedial sign he had, "animal attack."

"What kind of animal?" Marie questioned back but Embry held already dropped the subject and resumed collecting his food. Marie was feeling a bit uneasy imagining what kind of animal could do that and was it close to her home. She decided she better stay close to Embry tonight. She took her plate and sat down next to Jared and Kim on the picnic table. Kim smiled, launching into small talk with Marie, which wasn't much of a problem since Marie could read lips pretty well and Kim had a very readable mouth. Embry joined next to Marie and attacked his food with vengeance. She supposed he wasn't going to be much conversation while he was devouring those hot dogs on his plate.

"What do you do at bonfires?" Marie asked.

"We catch up with everyone, they (pointing to her boyfriend and the rest of his friends, including Embry) goof out as usual, "Kim explained. Jared gave his girlfriend a hilariously offended look.

"I thought you liked my goofy ways?"

Kim rolled her eyes,"you know I do," and pecked Jared a quick time on the cheek. Jared, satisfied with her answer, turned back to inhaling his food. Marie watched this tender exchange and realized she would love to do that to Embry. Kiss him, that is. She turned her head toward him and almost reconsidered the thought, seeing him with ketchup smeared around the corners of his mouth.

"What?" he asked, watching her nose wrinkle up at the site. "So what, I'm not the daintiest eater."

"You're not the daintiest anything," Marie signed with most gusto.

Embry wiped a napkin across his mouth quickly before replying,"that's right, 'cause I'm a man," slapping high fives with Paul across the table, apparently they made up.

"_That he is right on_," Marie licked her bottom lip, taking the time to appreciate his muscles through his black shirt.

"If you say so," Marie signed and then focused her attention licking the frosting off her cupcake.

Embry followed her pink tongue across the icing on the cupcake, his witty comeback remake,"I'll be most obliged to show you," dying on his tongue. She was going to be the death of him, that was for sure. He came back to his senses only when he felt a small, warm hand tracking a path up his thigh. His heartbeat was rapidly speeding up,"_Where the hell did she learn this from?_" This wasn't the same Marie, this was "mature" Marie or "naughty Marie". He hoped no one knew what was going on under the table. Before the hand could meet its clear destination, it slid back his thigh and back to its owners' icing trail on her cupcake. She was teasing him. That little minx.

"_Two can play at this game_," Embry thought, scheming in his mind all kinds of distracting techniques he could use on her. Finally, settling on a more "PG" move, his eyes darkened and he waited until everyone was looking at the fireworks display before he took her chin, turning her head towards him, lifted her chin, and planted a slow, lingering kiss on her mouth. He pulling back licking his mouth like he had just tasted a delicious piece of beefsteak. Her luminous brown eyes stared back blindly at first before dawn flashed in the depths of those eyes. Her lips were soft, so soft. Marie leaned in a placed a kiss on his mouth. She wasn't the most experienced but hey, he would be most willing to give her all the lessons she liked.

"Hey, hey what's shaken over here?" Quil chose as usual to interrupt at the wrong moment. Throughly killing the mood. Embry tore his lips from Marie's, readying to rip Quil apart. Marie was about to protest, this was the best (and only) kiss she ever had, but stopped short when she saw Quil sitting across the table. Damn Quil.

"What do you want, Quil?" Embry's voice was like a match to a fuse.

"Oh, please don't stop on my account," Quil smirked knowingly. That was it, Embry grabbed Marie's hand and pulled her from the table, intent on taking her into the woods away from Quil, away from everyone.

"I just wanted to tell you, the stories start soon," Quil called out after them.

Embry stopped regrettably and turned back to Marie. "Later," he mouthed. He couldn't miss when the elders told the legends of their tribe, especially since their were 2 new additions to the pack now, Colin and Brady. He would have to retell the story to Marie later, but he could also fill her in during the storytelling. It would help break the ice, no – glacier – for what he had to tell her about him. It wasn't going to be easy.

Everyone had positioned themselves around the fire and the storyteller, Billy Black, Jacob's father, waiting for him to begin the age-old legend surrounding their people, where they descended from. Marie couldn't help but buz with excitement, this night was turning out to be one of the best, her mind flashing back to Embry's surprising demanding but gentle kiss, was still tingling on her lips. She didn't know he had it in him to be honest. She moved in closer to Embry when a chilling breeze picked up, his body warmth was astonishingly high, she often questioned herself how he could walk around all day in short-sleeved shirts and often cut off shorts and not be cold. She was practically freezing, and it was about 71 degrees. Billy began the tale when everyone was settled, casting an alpha demeanor the way he captivated the peoples' attention, even the smaller children. The woman, who Marie had seen earlier and questioned Embry about, had pulled out a pencil and notepad was feverishly writing as the man in the wheelchair began the story. Marie tried to pay attention to the man, but was watching the others' facial expressions, bleak almost blank stares.

"_They have probably heard this story a thousand times already_,"Marie thought returning her attention on the speaker. She caught bits and pieces of the tale, her mother, had told Marie some of the legend to teach Marie about where half of her heritage came from, all Marie remembered was her mom rambling on the Quileute people descending from some animal. An eagle? No. Could be a fox? That can't be right. Was it a dog? Suddenly as she watched the storyteller, he formed one syllable that she remembered, wolf. That's what it was wolf.

"_The Quileute people are descended from wolves, Marie._" Marie had thought that didn't make any sense. Then her mom had went on to explain something about men turning into wolves, werewolves or something to that nature. That was something for Hollywood, it didn't belong in real life.

"_This must be what that man is talking about_," Marie realized," I cannot believe they believe in this hocus pocus." Marie turned to look at Embry, noticing how focused he looked, not only him, but like 9 other guys that looked strikingly similar to each other, almost like they could be brothers. As she pondered over this, she could not help the calming effect the fire and being next to Embry supplied. She tried fighting the sleep, but her eyelids were drooping heavier and heavier until she came up with the solution to just close them for five minutes.

Five minutes turned into waking up in Embry's car. She shook some of the groggy feeling from her head as she sat up in her seat. Figures, Embry made sure her seatbelt was snug around her waist. She watched the relax posture Embry had while driving, one hand on the steering wheel, another fiddling with the radio dial.

Embry caught sight she was awake and mouthed,"Good morning, sleepyhead." Good morning Marie thought, sitting up slightly quicker than the oxygen floated to her head. Embry put a hand on her shoulder, gently urging her to lay back down in the seat. "Just kidding," Embry mouthed back to her with a hint of a smile on his lips. It wasn't until then that Marie looked through the windshield and saw it was pitch black outside, eyeballing the radio clock told her it was ten-thirty.

"Ha Ha, very funny," Marie told him.

"Embry."

"Hmm." He responded distracted, focusing on making a right turn. He turned his head to the right, towards her to let her know he heard her.

"Do you believe that story, about the wolves?" Tearing her eyes from the window to look at him fully. Embry kept his eyes focused on the road, but Marie noticed how he now had the stirring wheel with both hands gripping it tightly. Marie wondered why he was becoming tense, it was just a harmless question. The tightness of his mouth gave way to no answer.

"Embry?"

"Sort of," Embry's eyes flickered away from the road only to return back.

"Well, I think it is a bit foolish, the whole werewolf thing, rawrr," Marie giggled imitating her werewolf sound. Her smile slowly failed when she saw Embry tensing up some more, but then she noticed his shoulders shaking a little from the side.

He turned to smile at her from the corner of his eye,"Rawr. What is that? Trying to tempt me?"

"It is my werewolf noise," Marie explained her cheeks turning a "tickle me pink."

Embry stopped the car in front of her house, the porch light was still on. Embry turned to face her," I love your blush," he stroked the side of her cheek softly,"and your dimple,." when she smiled modestly.

Marie pecked his lips quickly, then grabbing the door handle, pushing it open and dashing her way out. No telling what they would do if she stayed in that car a minute longer. The most wicked things he could do with just his eyes, Marie blushed some more just thinking about it. She reached the door, pulling out her key from her jeans pocket. Feeling it empty she started to panic, then she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, Embry had her key dangling between his two fingers.

"Forget something?"

Marie made a grab at her keys he had, but he pulled his arm up, dangling the keys over her head.

"_Oh, that is not even fair_," Marie told him as she signed quickly. Marie stood on her tip toes to reach the keys, but Embry craned his neck down and gave her one last smoldering kiss. She could definitely get used to those. Pulling back with a smack, Embry unlocked her door and dropped the keys into her hand.

"Good night."

Marie stood there at the doorway, sort of dazed and confused. What was it she was supposed to be doing again? Embry chuckled and gently turned her in the direction of the door. Oh yeah, walk into the house, that was it. When she had stepped into the house, she looked back to see if Embry was still there, he wasn't. No trace of him at all. She couldn't wait to see him at school Monday.

**A/N: Thank you all who reviewed and meet up to my challenge! I also want to say thanks to my wonderful new beta "PieAnnamay07! and also to the one who helped point out my crazy past and present tense (-x Rima x-) Thanks for the lovely reviews sugars! I'll try to post soon but I just learned some devasting news..one of my classmates was killed at his b-day party this past Saturday :[[ so I'll try to post when I can. [R.I.P. D.J.] He was only 16.**


	8. Jeté grande

**Disclaimer: I do not own or claim anything from the Twilight Saga, however I do own Marie ;]**

**This is kind of just a filler chapter, till we get to the real chucky meat of the story. Get to know Marie better:]**

Chapter 8

One lace over the other, and then that lace under the other, finish off by taking the two laces and tying them together in a simple bow. Marie finished tying up her ballet slippers for class. She'd been doing ballet since she was five years old. She enjoyed the elegance, graceful discipline of ballet; it was her "thing,"her "getaway", she wasn't one to brag but hell, she was pretty freakin' good too. Dancing was an art she absolutely loved to perform, just feeling the rhythmic motions of the twirls, the controlled jumps in the air; she especially craved the desire of briefly standing on her toes, it gave her the feeling of being weightless. Marie wears a hearing aid often when she dances, even though it only helps her hear a minuet fraction of the music, she doesn't even know why she wore it at times; mostly she relies on her music-toucher vibrating shoes. Her shoes allow her to feel the vibrations in order for her to respond in time to her musical accompaniments. She remembered staring attentively at the flashing screen of the movie, "Swan Princess." She wanted to do that, she wanted to be a princess too, and move like that across the screen. Marie had leaped up from the couch with only the enthusiasm a five year old could possess, and dragged her mom by the hand into the living room, pointing at the screen animatedly.

"I want to dance too," she had signed explaining to her mother.

Katherine had a perplexed look creeping on her face, obviously thrown off by her daughter's request, if not demand. "Are you sure, baby?" she signed back to Marie.

"Yes." Came the definite reply from Marie as she plopped down on the couch. Even then, once Marie set her mind to something, the chances were slim-to-none of her changing her mind.

Katherine had sighed, trudging over to the computer. _How much was this going to cost her?_

From day one Marie had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, especially learning anything new, sometimes it landed her right smack dab in trouble, but not this time. She reminisced watching the ballet instructor, Miss Beauvais, thinking " I can do that. I can do that."

She would mimic the exact same moves for hours in front of her mirror at home when not at the ballet institute. Starting from _petite jeté _to steadily increasing to _sissone ouverte _and beyond. To say she was disappointed to leave the institute was a sadly disappointing understatement, crashed or devastated were more the words when she had to move to a _reservation _in Washington, thinking she would never find another institute for aspiring ballerinas like herself. However, she had realized the move was wonderful for not only her mom, but also for herself. Life without Embry, she could not even fathom the thought. Luckily, she had found _Madame Joelle Barclay's Ballet Académie, _in Port Angeles, the girls there were pretty decent, mostly everyone there were madly serious with ballet to focus on anything else, and who could blame them with the slight nutcase for a ballet instructor. It was seemingly impossible to please Madame Joelle. She walked with her head so high, one could see her thin nostrils, except this was twice as disgusting considering the gray nose hairs peeking out. Marie almost gagged every time at the thought. Marie knew when she failed to execute a jump just right or fumbled an tours chaînés déboulés, Madame Joelle would pound her cane against the royal mahogany hard-wood floor; Marie could feel the palpatating vibrations on the floor, especially if Madame Joelle suddenly appeared behind her or from the side. Oh, and Lord forbid anyone be late! Her face changing shades of purple and red before Marie's very eyes, when one girl made a slightly fatal mistake of showing up for 10..count it, 10 minutes late before they had went on for a recital two weeks ago. Madame Joelle had snatched the girls' company tutu right off her body leaving her in nothing but a skimpy leotard, that looked to be torn at the seams. Disgusted, Madame Joelle threw up her hands, exiting the rehearsal hall, leaving her fanatic assistant to fumble with the distraught and baffled girl into the back stage dressing room to find a spare suitable ballet leotard and tutu. Marie had secretly vowed then and there, she would do all it took not to piss Madame Joelle off, at least not to that extent.

Glancing at the clock, she was shocked to notice class would be over in 5 minutes.

__

"Where had the time gone?"

she regarded thoughtfully, it was like she was dancing without any recognition to her feet moving beneath her. 

Madame Joelle called all the girls (and guys) into a huddle. "I want you all back here at four p.m. sharp November 30th, and not a minute late! We have beaucoup practice before the _"La Esmeralda"_ recital on the twenty-third of December. Auditions for Esmeralda begin upon our return. You are dismissed."

Marie wanted that part. As sure as her name was Marie Grace Santos, she wanted that part as Esmeralda, probably more than any of these other chicks around here. Marie contemplated this as she went to collect her bag, when she placed her shoes inside in exchange for some black burkenstocks, her attention caught on the red screen vibrating cell phone. On the screen read,"Can I pick you up at six tonight, sugar?" -Em.

She chuckled at the screen, Embry knew she hated it when he cropped up the English language like that, but she couldn't stay irritated for long, she was crazy about that tree trunk of a man, she called her boyfriend. They had only been dating for a bit more than a month, but it could as well have been years.

She texted back,"Okay, hunny bunny ;]" she guffawed at this, first on the list, their nicknames had to change ASAP. She remembered Embry said he wanted to tell her something tonight. She just hoped it wasn't anything bad, but she kept finding it to be a Herculean effort to contain the nagging, pitfall feeling in the bottom of her stomach. Maybe it was just her irksome worry wart gene she acquired from her mother. Yeah, that was it, she concluded. She was just being overdramatic, a worry wart in other words. Tonight, Embry would probably just tell her what he had planned this weekend with his friends. Probably some "male-bonding time", "just chilling with guys" mumbo jumbo, he usually told her when she questioned where does he go on the weekends for such a long time, and why does he come back without a shirt and cut-off jeans most of the time, or why he sometimes has leaves or twigs in his hair. And his feet... Oh, don't even get her started, she has made it at least a rule to wash his dirty mud encrusted, rocks, twigs, berries, and other outside fungi that could be crawling on his feet. He would just laugh, ruffle her hair (to her dismay), and say, "Work."

"What kind of work, makes you look like that? Bounty Hunter? " she immediately backfired one time.

He threw his head back, and roared a laugh so deep, she could see his whole body shake with convulsions. When he composed himself, wiping away tears,"Sometime like that."

Then he would give her a sound kiss to make her forget her own name.

**A/N: So Sorryy! that I haven't posted in longg awhile, I haven't given up on the story at all! So please keep reading:]] I won't post through until I have atleast 9 reviews ;]] so please don't make me wait sugars!**


	9. Dreamscape

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Twilight nor am I getting paid for any of this, that belongs to Stephenie Meyer. The only characters that are mine are Marie, Katherine (basically all the characters you never heard before) oh, and the plot is mine:]]**

Chapter 9

_A dog sat in the middle of the field; his tongue hanging at least ten inches from his mouth, a happy-go-lucky grin plastered on his face. Marie could almost feel the chill of the day air romantically caressing her cheek, as she sat in the middle of the elevated grass, the crisp grassy blades sliding between her fingers. The sun beamed down upon her back, as she lounged about, her arms carelessly tossed behind her, holding her thin frame up. This was heaven, she concluded, nothing could take this movement away. Now only if Embry was here._

_Seemly like magic, Embry appeared lumbering out of the thick, dark, forest; however, instead his usual playful smirk, was a maddened, enraged snarl on his velvety lips. From afar Marie noticed the fierce spark in his sooty eyes. It was that intense; his anger. But for what? Marie questioned herself, almost frightened if she hadn't known it was Embry. She had never seen him this mad, not even when Paul had pissed him off at lunch those few months ago. Marie lifted her hand to signal her location, but stopped short, bringing her outstretched arm back down quickly. Too late. Embry had noticed her, instantly cutting his almond eyes in her direction._

_"Why the hell is he so angry," she began feeling agitated,"and terrifying?"_

_What she thought what couldn't get any worse, turned out to be so, as the dog that had been sitting so patiently seemed to have converted to Embry's side. The hairs on his back raising, his mouth pulled back in what Marie knew if she could hear would have been what hell of a growl; even the curvature of the dog's spine was blood-curdling. She gaped at Embry for reassurance, however if she was hoping to find some, she neglected to see any. He scrutinized her with pure hatred; the sight chilled her bones causing tiny tremors down her spine._

_Oh yeah. Definitely time to go. Marie stumbled at her first attempt at standing from her spot on the ground. Her second attempt wasn't necessarily successful but wasn't as disastrous as the first time to get upright. The light breeze changed to a hearty gust of wind; the sun too, was apparently frightened by the spectacle taking place on Earth. Feeling the rather excessive lump in the back of her throat, she rotated around to run into the forest; possibly her only escape route. The speed of the way she turned was so unlike hers that she froze, causing a lone strand of hair to swing forward. Instead of her usually thick, ravenous, curly hair was instead silky, satiny straight hair. She hadn't remembered ever straightening it. Her fingers reached up in disbelief, stroking a few strands of her hair. Sure enough, felt just like corn silk. Marie threw out her hands, shocked at what she was seeing. She was white!_

_She had always been a wee bit pale, compared to the Embry, or the other Quileute people on the rez. She, definitely, stuck out like a painfully, sore thumb when she and her mother went out. The younger Quileutes peered curiously, well the Elders downright stared. She couldn't help the fact, if her father happened to be a white Spaniard from Spain. Besides her Quileute ancestry prevented the extreme paleness she was staring back at right now. And cold, why was she so cold. Something obviously wasn't right. She glanced over her right shoulder, her eyes meeting with nothing but the empty clearing. She swirled her head back around, this time instead of Embry or the dog, stood something much more menacing. There in the field crouched low was a wolf sporting a grey coat with dark spots upon its back. Except this wolf had to be the size of a horse, but bigger, longer, stronger, maybe even taller. This was a wolf on steroids._

_She blanched. Time to test out the recently acquired speed. She spun around, her feet gliding across the ground with such grace, and speed. She skated around trees, jumped across rocks; she had already forgotten the reason why she was running in the first place. The pounding descended on the ground signaled the beast tracking closely behind her. Suddenly, just as quick as the race had begun, it ended just as abruptly. The beast had enclosed its teeth through her long hair, effectively picking her up and slinging her through the air, her back painfully connecting intimately with the trunk of a yew tree._

_She flipped through the air, twisting her body, until her feet landed with a graceful stud on the forest floor; an acrobatic flip that would have made any gymnastic proud. Marie was pissed. Livid. Angry. She had never felt such pure hatred for anyone or thing before, but this beast had put his filthy mouth in her hair and yanked with a strength that was undeniably powerful. To top it off, the wolf had circled and returned back to the forest, with an almost smug "tongue wag." He thought this was a game; playing with his food, so to speak. Time to kick some wolf ass._

_The wolf lunged forward with jack-rabbit like speed, brandishing his filthy, sharp claws that appeared to have caked dried blood on them. His eyes, momentarily sparked Marie's interest. She'd seen those eyes before. But where? Déjà vu hung heavily in the air, as she itched her brain for every face she had seen through her lifetime. Now only an inch away, the wolf's claws imbedded into her skin, her marble skin. Marie snaked her arms around the creature and squeezed. And squeezed! The beast sank to the ground, struggling, biting, scratching; still Marie held on squeezing. She wanted to peer into the eyes of this animal that had any intention of harming her. The wolf's dilated pupils stared back at her, reluctant to accept any pain it was experiencing. Blood began seeping out of the corner of its mouth. Marie, horrified, dropped her arms from around the wolf, speechless. She recognized those eyes! Embrys'!_

_Intense emotion overwhelmed her, but as hard as she tried, tears just would not formulate in her tear ducts. Multiplied with the knowledge that she had come damn-near close to murdering her boyfriend, brought into question why Embry was in wolf or werewolf form and the image she had saw of herself in his eyes. Coupled with her ghastly skin of death, Marie saw her eyes were a candid red; her mouth curled back revealing pearl white, sharp incisors. Her nose flared with the repulsive stench of dog, wet dog._

_She was so ashamed, guilty, remorseful. Confused? What were they? The animals they had become were mind-blowing. Vampire and werewolf. A flick in the trees caused Marie to inspect the area intently. Sparing one last look at the wolf-Embry sprawled across the ground filled Marie with pain; Embry's pain was her pain. She had caused this, making her feel as low as hell at this moment. She crept toward the tree at the far left of the forest. Except of becoming closer to the tree, the tree stretched farther away from her reach, leading her to begin running towards the tree. She needed to know what was behind that tree. Suddenly, her foot caught the edge of a rather large rock, spending her sailing. When she came too, she was not in the forest anymore but at a bonfire. Everyone was there. Billy, Emily, Sam, Paul, Quil, Jacob, everyone, but no one was eating, laughing the usual fun associated with the Quileute rez bonfires. Instead, they eye-balled her with a mix between expectation and guilt._

_Embry extended his built arm and touched her cheek tenderly with his smoldering hand that Marie had to close her eyes to preserve this picture of romance in her mental filing of special moments, filing this memory in with the folder marked 'Embry'. The moment felt as if it could have been frozen in time had it not been for the abrupt shaking of Embrys' hand. Marie widened her eyes, gaping at Embry with curious wonder and hesitation-what was with him and this shaking? She couldn't decipher the look in his eyes anymore; his face taking on a personal torn expression mixed with unadulterated anger, as he slowly backed away from her. Sam Uley and Jacob Black flanked both his right and left side, while Quil, Paul, and Jared stood behind them; all favoring eachother in an almost brotherly fashion. For the life of her Marie could not understand why they were moving away from her like she was prudent garbage. She glanced down at her skin, touched her hair; so far so good, no vampire-istic qualities._

_A new arm slide across her waist; a cold one. Startled, Marie sprung from the putrid, decaying log, but soon came to the conclusion; she could not. She could describe this feeling only as being struck in a chair by cement glue. Hoping to plead with whoever was holding her captive, she rotated her head to side, only to have her breath evaporate right of her mouth. Staring back at her, like she was an enchanted piece of unique Romanesque artwork, was a bewitching, statuesque being of a man. He had sun-kissed golden hair, streaked with warm chestnut lowlights. His features held strong Roman appeal; his 'Alexandrian' nose, completely parallel to his forehead. His lips soft and pliable in its contours; his jaw cut and square. His golden eyes shone beneath his masculine brunet eyebrows; creating a striking contrast against his pale skin. His smile beautiful, sincere, straight, and pearly-white as he beamed down upon her._

_Marie sank deep into those eyes, those golden eyes; getting so lost in them in fact, that she hadn't noticed when that smile turned impeccably dangerous. His eyeteeth exchanging into two long, needle-sharp fangs. His grip tightening considerably. She felt woozy, but she could give have given two shits; as long as those eyes would stare into hers forever. Absolutely forever. The buxom man turned evil, Marie found out too late, only to snake out of her trance when his eyes shifted into a jet, coal black. No longer was this tender, warming, golden brown shade but instead the cold eyes of evil. Could she have been staring into the eyes of death? If so, she still felt insensibly drawn towards them, even against her will. He yanked her neck towards him, breaking connect and ultimately the trance from her; the poisonous saliva, dripping from his mouth into her skin. Marie began to jerk and twist, all the while thrashing violently. Where is Embry? Where is he? Questions zipping through her mind at a thousand miles per hour._

_The man or vampire, unperturbed, incased her in his arms even tighter, incarcerating her from farther movement. She couldn't believe this was going to be the way she died-eaten by a vampire. Almost laughably indeed, truly it was, and she would have, if she hadn't felt his freezing fangs piercing her slightly golden shoulder blade. Shoulder blade? She thought skeptically before she craned her mouth to let the scream escape her- this guy has gotten it wrong, it's the neck. Right? She could feel the liquid fire course through her veins, as the vampire sucked for all she was worth. The life rapidly expelling her, as her jerking increasing, her body going into convulsions. Her mouth opened to a slight scream._

Cold sweat covered her whole body, as Katherine frantically shook her awake. Marie's heart struck with such Tachyarrhythmia, that she found it difficult to catch her breath. A nightmare. The most terrifying nightmare, she had ever experienced, nevertheless, still she was relieved that it was just a dream; not reality. Although, those vivid emotions and feelings had felt so incredibly real; her shoulder blade still was throbbing rhythmically.

Her mother, Katherine, studied Marie carefully, for she too, had earned quite a scare when she heard Marie's ear-splitting screams. A mother's heart can only take so much. Katherine immediately dropped the laptop, grabbed her grandmother's sturdy oak tree branch, dashed up the stairs three at a time, fearing the worst. She slammed into her daughters' door, bursting it half-way off the hinges. She knew she was definitely going to feel that superwoman move in the morning, but at the time, the adrenaline flowing through her body was enough to suffice. She fastened her eyes on the bed, no Marie. From the sound of the screams, she was in her closet. Katherine could not understand for the life of her why Marie fancied sleeping in her closet. Her closet? It was one of those many wonders a mother can only ponder about her child. Must have gotten it from her father she had long solved.

Katherine jumped across the bed, and collapsed on the closet floor, shaking Marie desperately to wake up.

"Marie! Sweetie, wake up! You're having a nightmare," she hadn't registered this was all in vain to say, but still it couldn't hurt nevertheless.

After four rough shakes, Marie had popped her eyes, staring bewildered back at her, pupils dilated, chest heaving, and sweat covering her entire angelic face. Katherine, confused, could only wipe away the sweat with her sleeve; wondering what dream this could have been to provoke such a reaction.

Her parietal lobe began allowing her to make out the objects in her room, from her opened can of Coca Cola soda to her ballet slippers thrown hastily across her freshly unpacked suitcase. She had only wanted to take a nap before Embry showed up at 6; bad idea after all. The haunting images of those golden irises ingrained her brain. It was just a nightmare, she kept repeating mentally to herself.

"What did you dream about Marie?" Katherine signed anxiously.

Marie flipped through her mental files for an excuse; she couldn't tell her mother that she had been dreaming of mythical creatures such as, werewolves and vampires, and all that other nonsense. So she resulted to the next best thing, blame it on something.

"It was the soda. All the sugar goes to my head," Marie signed noticeably changing to another topic; indiscreetly chortling in off.

Katherine eyed her suspiciously, then the sode can by the closet door," umhm, well lay off the canned drinks for awhile kiddo. They may have started adding coke as the secret ingredient again." She chuckled trying to make light of the fright they have both received.

Marie relieved to not having to answer any more probing answers, grinned and nudged the ancient tree limb with her leg," and what were you going to do with that thing. Beat someone? It would have crumbled on their heads. You really should trash it. Granny would understand."

Katherine huffed with playful indignation," this 'thing' has been faithfully in our family for years. I will have you know, this stick was first used when Granny scared away that burglar three years ago. Remember? It resembles courage."

Marie laughed out loud. Yeah right. The story of her 88 year old great-grandmother chasing a burglar through the streets with an oak tree stick lifted her spirits every time she 'heard' it. What could she say? The women in her family loved to fight. She didn't know how long Katherine and her laughed over this but before she knew it Katherine broke off the conversation, head tilted to the right.

"Embry's here," she replied to Marie.

Oh no. For some reason guilt settled in Marie's conscience. She could not get those golden eyes and that heavenly face out of her mind. Let the games begin.

**A/N: I feel horrible for leaving you lovely reviews hanging for sooo long, but I've been so busy lately. Anyways enough excuses. I'll make a deal; you don't even have to review this if it sucks ass. :[[ I'll understand.**


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